Brunswick County ranked as the fastest-growing county in NC with a growth rate of 12% from 2020-2022, and increase in income into the area of 13.25%. It was the only county in NC to rank in the top 10 in percentage growth in the US, ranking seventh. The Brunswick County Planning Department experienced a 572% increase in residential unit approvals among major subdivisions and planned developments between fiscal years 2020 and 2021, not including recently approved 2,132 acres for higher density zoning south of Highway 17 in Calabash. The Brunswick Pines project proposes building 570 housing units on 311 acres just north of Bricklanding Road and Hale Swamp Road in Shallotte. It's the second largest of nearly two dozen residential and commercial developments that are expected to double the town's population in the next few years.  Solserra, annexed into the Town of Shallotte in May 2025, will add an additional 804 single-family homes, 300 multi-family units and 174 townhomes to be built in three phases.

Brunswick’s tourism figures of high net worth second homeowners and visitors to the South Brunswick Islands for 2020 and 2021 were so strong that they eclipsed visitor spending in New Hanover (Wilmington), typically the highest in the tri-county region, according to an annual Visit North Carolina report that draws from a variety of data to calculate the money spent on food, lodging, recreation, retail and transportation in each of the state’s counties.